Behavioral characterization of the cochlear amplifier lesion due to loss of function of stereocilin (STRC) in human subjects

Loss of function of stereocilin (STRC) is the second most common cause of inherited hearing loss. The loss of the stereocilin protein, encoded by the STRC gene, induces the loss of connection between outer hair cells and tectorial membrane. This only affects the outer hair cells (OHCs) function, involving deficits of active cochlear frequency selectivity and amplifier functions despite preservation of normal inner hair cells. Better understanding of cochlear features associated with mutation of STRC will improve our knowledge of normal cochlear function, the pathophysiology of hearing impairment, and potentially enhance hearing aid and cochlear implant signal processing. Nine subjects with homozygous or compound heterozygous loss of function mutations in STRC were included, age 7–24 years. Temporal and spectral modulation perception were measured, characterized by spectral and temporal modulation transfer functions. Speech-in-noise perception was studied with spondee identification in adaptive steady-state noise and AzBio sentences with 0 and -5 dB SNR multitalker babble. Results were compared with normal hearing (NH) and cochlear implant (CI) listeners to place STRC−/− listeners’ hearing capacity in context. Spectral ripple discrimination thresholds in the STRC−/− subjects were poorer than in NH listeners (p < 0.0001) but remained better than for CI listeners (p < 0.0001). Frequency resolution appeared impaired in the STRC−/− group compared to NH listeners but did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.06). Compared to NH listeners, amplitude modulation detection thresholds in the STRC−/− group did not reach significance (p= 0.06) but were better than in CI subjects (p < 0.0001). Temporal resolution in STRC−/− subjects was similar to NH (p = 0.98) but better than in CI listeners (p = 0.04). The spondee reception threshold in the STRC−/− group was worse than NH listeners (p = 0.0008) but better than CI listeners (p = 0.0001). For AzBio sentences, performance at 0 dB SNR was similar between the STRC−/− group and the NH group, 88 % and 97 % respectively. For -5 dB SNR, the STRC−/− performance was significantly poorer than NH, 40 % and 85 % respectively, yet much better than with CI who performed at 54 % at +5 dB SNR in children and 53 % at + 10 dB SNR in adults. To our knowledge, this is the first study of the psychoacoustic performance of human subjects lacking cochlear amplification but with normal inner hair cell function. Our data demonstrate preservation of temporal resolution and a trend to impaired frequency resolution in this group without reaching statistical significance. Speech-in-noise perception compared to NH listeners was impaired as well. All measures were better than those in CI listeners. It remains to be seen if hearing aid modifications, customized for the spectral deficits in STRC−/− listeners can improve speech understanding in noise. Since cochlear implants are also limited by deficient spectral selectivity, STRC−/− hearing may provide an upper bound on what could be obtained with better temporal coding in electrical stimulation.